Duquesne had the look of a team that belonged atop the Atlantic 10 Conference baseball standings.

The Dukes combined flawless fielding, masterful pitching and timely hitting in a 4-1 victory against visiting Xavier yesterday in the opener of a three-game series this weekend with a game today and tomorrow afternoon at Duquesne Field in Green Tree.

Duquesne and Xavier share first place at 13-6, and Charlotte (12-7) is second after losing last night to Fordham.

"I knew getting a win today was huge," said Duquesne's Ryan Juran, a junior right-hander from Shaler who allowed four hits and one run in eight innings to earn the victory.

"When we were down 1-0, it didn't faze me. Our bats showed up. If you give me four or five runs to work with, that's plenty. If they do that, I'll get them the win."

Juran kept Xavier's hitters off balance with a sneaky fastball and a tantalizing slider at a variety of speeds.

"The biggest thing, I was getting ahead of their guys," he said. "I came out of the bullpen before the game with two pitches. I couldn't throw my changeup for strikes."

Juran's wins have increased and his earned run average has decreased steadily since a rocky start of the season against nationally ranked Florida State and South Carolina and powerful LSU. He is 5-6 with a 6.84 ERA.

"Recently, I've been doing abetter job," he said. "I think we've all settled in after that start."

Duquesne, which has won four games in a row and is 20-22 overall, opened the season with an 0-10 record that was followed by a school-record 11-game winning streak.

"I think we're battle-proven and battle-savvy," Duquesne manager Mike Wilson said. "I like to see Ryan go out and compete because he gets the most out of his talent."

Duquesne got the most out of its hits after Xavier took a 1-0 lead on Sean Farrell's home run in the second.

The Dukes tied it, 1-1, in the fifth on Derek Mechling's line single to left that scored Mark Tracy. They broke the game open with three runs in a sixth that featured Mike Carroll's towering home run over the left-center fence and Bill Torre's two-out single that knocked in two runs.

Reliever Denny Brown completed the victory with a scoreless ninth.

"They swept us last year," Wilson said. "It's important that we won the first game this time."